I've been on Facebook about a year now. In the past few months, I've checked in more frequently. Once/day... once every other day. And without a doubt, it's been stressing me out.

I shouldn't be stressed out. After all, it's simply a bunch of my friends telling me what they are eating for lunch, what they are wearing to work, and why they are voting for a particular political party.

But there's really so much more than that. There's writers I've met, some actors, old bosses and some really earth shattering farm games.

Plus it's a superhighway of information. It's where I launched my first artist salon. It's where I can be pinged about my ex-husband's birthday, my ex-boyfriend's party and my sister's current relationship status. (For the record, she's in a relationship. There's even a heart next to her name. Ahhh...)

The issue I have with it is that I feel this pressure to keep up with everyone. If I forget someone's important day, or simply ignore it because it's someone I know but I don't really know, it still weighs on my mind. After all, they are a "friend". And "friends" don't forget other "friends" birthdays.

I'M OVERLOADED WITH INFO! Yeah yeah... I know it's the future of the world! How will I ever launch a book without a platform of fans to "like" what I wore to the gym that day? And yet,how will I ever write that book if I'm so caught up in everyone's brain farts that I'm depleted at the end of the day? Perhaps no one will even care to read my book because it's so much quicker to read someone's wall than a 400 page novel by an author they aren't even "friends" with on their social networking platform.

For those of you who love it, I wish I had it in me. But I don't. I already share enough of my life with strangers on my blog. And lately, not enough. Why? Because FACEBOOK IS SUCKING THE LIFE OUT OF ME.

I know, I'm a wimp. I'm just letting you know. Give me a year and I'll be living in a cave with battery operated Tiffani lamps and a year's supply of spam. Yup, that's how I'm going to roll.

Wish me luck. Tonight... I'm going AWOL.

Adios, Facebook. It was nice knowing you. You've been a good "friend".

Here's someone else's take on deleting her account - stated much better than my post!

 


Comments

Brooke G link
04/12/2010 05:09

HA HA - I love this. I try not to get on FB too often - I find it a huge time sucker. Ya know -time that I could be spending surfing around blogland. Geez - maybe I should just shut the LAPTOP all together ;D Good luck with your book.

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Arwen link
04/12/2010 05:27

I love the image of the cave, the tiffani lamp and the spam.

I made a decision that for me, blogger will have to be sufficient for social networking, and I'm just going to ignore twitter, face book, and whatever that new google one is. Zap?

If I had more guts, I'd ignore blogger for a while too in favor of springtime.

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Deb link
04/12/2010 08:33

Facebook has that effect on people :) However, I can honestly say that in the case of the benefit concert we're planning, it has been the most amazing resource.

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andrea frazer link
04/12/2010 09:24

Brooke - I get caught up in the computer thing, too. And I'm a total hypocrite, because while FB drains me, I still have two blogs.

Arwen - I think you'll find blog addiction more fulfilling than FB addictions.

Deb - I totally hear you on the resource of FB. It's why I had a hard time letting go of it. But right now there's nothing in my life that needs planning. I have no book, no movie, no big benefit concert. I suppose when that happens I can jump back on. Meanwhile, I'll stick to this.

Thanks to everyone for your input! Would love more on why you do and don't like FB and, if you are on it for networking, how do you not get sucked in to the other time sucks of it?

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steph link
04/12/2010 21:00

LOL...so I should be annoyed that I haven't heard from you on facebook lately?

I admit I like FB. Since I work from home it has been a connection to other "grown-ups" instead of the water cooler and it's a neat way to get in touch with colleagues and old school friends. I don't stress about being "behind" on FB things. I love it for the status updates - I try (but don't always succeed) to write a funny status update every day. It's a daily writing exercise, I guess! I don't get bogged down in the games and Farmville and that stuff. I know a lot of writers so the status updates are usually a good read! I'll miss you...sniff sniff... ;)

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andrea frazer link
04/12/2010 21:18

Steph - I am glad you like FB! I WANT TO LIKE FB! I seriously feel like I have some people please character defect that I don't. I'm sure I'll be back at some point. I hope you'll welcome me back with open, prodigal blog friend, arms.

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Just Jiff link
04/13/2010 06:51

I got sucked into FB for a while too. Then I got over it. I still have my account so I can see what people are up to if I'm curious, but I don't post much anymore.

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txwinter
04/14/2010 18:45

A good reason to have a FB account: My teenage son has one and offered to friend me if I set up an account. This allows unfiltered access to his social networking life. The only problem with this is that I have been 'discovered' by others despite locking down a lot of my identity and now have 40 friends. Sigh. That wasn't my intention at all, but it seemed like the right thing to do to take him up on his offer.

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Meowmie link
05/09/2010 22:21

I have an FB account. I keep in touch with choir friends, a few relatives, a couple of friends from interstate, and so on. First rule - no workmates. If I feel the need, I'll make a separate account for work on FB but I would rather be my (boring) self.

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